Textile spray composition

ABSTRACT

A STORAGE STABLE, SPRAYABLE, FLASH-CURING, DURABLE PRESS AQUEOUS COMPOSITION COMPRISING (A) AN AMINOPLAST; AND (B) A CATALYST SYSTEM COMPRISING (1) (A) MAGNESIUM FLUOBORATE; (B) PARATOLUENE SULFONIC ACID; OR (C) SULFAMIC ACID, (2) A SALT OF A METAL OF GROUP II OF THE PERIODIC TABLE, (E.G. MGCL2&#39;&#39;6H2O; ZNCL2&#39;&#39;6H2O) AND (3) A HYDROXY CARBOXYLIC ACID, E.G. TARTARIC ACID). IN USE THE COMPOSITION IS SPRAYED ON A FABRIC OR GARMENT TO BE TREATED AND THE FABRIC OR GARMENT THEREAFTER AIR DRIED AND CREASED AND CURED BY HOUSEHOLD IRONING.

United States Patent O 3,674,418 TEXTILE SPRAY COMPOSITION Richard I. Lyons, Taylor-s, and Jan Dabrowski, North Augusta, S.C., assignors to United Merchants and Manufacturers, Inc., New York, N.Y. No Drawing. Filed June 30, 1969, Ser. No. 837,945 Int. Cl. D06m /56, 15/58 U.S. Cl. 8116.3 15 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to textile finishing procedures in general and more particularly to finishing compositions and processes for their use by which durable press garments may be conveniently produced in the home.

In recent years various methods have been developed in the art for treating fabrics or garments so as to impart durable crease or press characteristics thereto. Generally, these treatments comprise treating the fabric with a composition containing a curable fiber reactant or crosslinking agent, thereafter drying and curing the treated fabric with a curing catalyst and heat after placing the desired creases in the fabric. Actually there are two procedures resulting in two different kinds of treated fabrics which have been employed in the art. The first is the so-called durable press or permanent press fabrics formed by the pre-cure technique wherein the reactant treated fabric is cured prior to forming into the garment. The other is the so called post-cure durable press technique wherein the fabric is initially impregnated with a resin, dried, formed into the garment and the garment creased as necessary and thereafter cured in a curing oven. Both of these techniques have been utilized to a great extent in the textile art.

In both of these processes however, the resins and catalyst systems for effecting the cure which have been employed have been such that it has been necessary that both durable press techniques be conducted in the finishing plant or garment factory because of the requirement for curing in the large ovens which must be maintained at high temperatures for relatively long periods of time. Also, treatment of the garments with the resin had to be conducted at the finishing plant because the treating solutions were stable for only short periods of time.

It has accordingly not been possible heretofore for a housewife or other home user to take advantage of the durable press techniques in finishing products or garments made in the home. Inasmuch as home sewing represents one of the larger unorganized industries in the country today, it is clearly desirable that procedures be provided by which garments or other products made in the home can be provided with all the advantages of the durable press treatments.

As indicated above, this has not been possible heretofore because the treating compositions employed in finishing plant production of permanent press and wash-and- Patented July 4, 1972 ice wear fabrics have not met the criteria necessary for use outside of the factory. Thus, the resin and catalyst systems employed have not been storage-stable, that is they do not have a long shelf life so as to remain stable but active over long periods of time. In addition, the curing of the prior resin systems required high cure temperatures over long periods of time and for that purpose required the use of high temperature ovens which were expensive and practical for use only in a large garment factory. Moreover there has been difficulty in obtaining uniform application of the resin systems which further prevented their application as a commercial product for home use. As a result, there is clearly a need in the art for a resin/catalyst system which will provide the home user with a safe, easily usable composition for effecting the durable press process outside the finishing plant.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly one object of the present invention to provide a durable press composition which is storage stable and susceptible to flash-curing at relatively low temperatures.

A further object of the invention is to provide a durable press composition which remains homogeneous over long periods of time and therefore has a long shelf life, is quick curing and can be used as a durable press spray composition in the home.

A further object of the invention is to provide a homogeneous, storage stable, quick curing durable press composition which can be applied to fabrics or garments by spray methods and thereafter creased and cured by household ironing.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as the description thereof proceeds.

In satisfaction of the foregoing objects and advantages there is provided by this invention a homogeneous, storage-stable, sprayable, flash curing durable press composition comprising an aqueous solution of (A) an aminoplast, and (B) a catalyst system, comprising (1) a member selected from the group consisting of (a) magnesium fluoborate, (b) para-toluene sulfonic acid, and (c) sulfamic acid, (2) a salt of a metal of Group H of the Periodic Table and (3) a hydroxy carboxylic acid. The composition may be used by spraying on the fabrics or garments to be treated, air drying at room temperature and thereafter curing by household ironing. Also provided are articles of manufacture which comprise containers for the composition from which the composition may be sprayed on the farbic or garment to be treated such as the squeeze bottle-type, piston-type or the aerosoltype.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As indicated above, this invention is concerned with a composition which may be used in the home to effect a durable press fabric or garment-treatment technique and fulfills a need long recognized in the art but which has not been solved heretofore. Generally, there are a number of criteria which a composition must meet in order to be satisfactory for home use in treating garments or fabrics in the home. Initially, such a composition must be storage-stable, that is, it must have a long shelf life during which time it remains homogeneous but in a dormant state until activation of the curing catalyst by external means such as heat. Generally, as such a composition would be used only intermittently by housewives and additional time is required in the selling process, such compositions should have a shelf life of at least one year. Also, during use, the composition must be relatively safe to use and easy to apply, that is there must not be any significant danger associated with use of the composition and it must be capable of being packaged in such manner that it can be easily applied by a housewife or other person who has no particular skills in the permanent press technique. A third criteria is that after application, the treated material must be capable of rapid and efiicient curing by devices normally found in the home. This of course requires that the composition be capable of cure in rapid time and at moderate temperatures as curing is ordinarily effected by heating. Obviously, the most satisfactory procedure for effecting the curing step in the home is with the use of an ordinary household iron as both the necessary creasing and curing steps can be effected in one procedure.

The compositions and processes of the present invention meet all of the above criteria and provide a satisfactory composition in easily usable form which can be used as a sort of portable durable press treatment for fabrics and garments.

The compositions of this invention generally comprise two essential components; (A) a suitable aminoplast resin to effect cross linking with the fabric and (B) a catalyst system to catalyze the cure of the treated fabric or garment in water.

For use in the instant compositions, any of the socalled aminoplast resins may be employed although there are certain criteria which make some of the aminoplast materials desirable over others. Thus, the aminoplast should be substantially water-soluble and form a homogeneous aqueous solution when dissolved in water. In addition, as the compositions are to be used by inexperienced persons in the home, it is highly desirable that the aminoplast have a low free-formaldehyde content. In fact, it is highly desirable that the free-formaldehyde content be less than about 0.5% although, as is well known to those skilled in the art, higher percentages of free-formaldehyde can be tolerated if they are masked by the use of formaldehyde-masking agents which are commonly used in formaldehyde-containing compositions. However, use of aminoplasts which contain less than about 0.5% free-formaldehyde are highly preferred in the invention.

Suitable aminoplast materials which may be employed herein include particularly the ethylene and propylene ureas such as dimethlol ethylene urea, dimethyol propylene urea and dimethylol dihydroxy ethylene urea, these materials being especially preferred because of their very low free-formaldehyde content. In addition, these materials are relatively inert and stable so that they are ideal for use in the present composition. The preferred materials are available commercially in aqueous solution from under the Valrez trade name from the Valchem Division of United Merchants and Manufacturers, Inc. -In addition however, any of the other well-known aminoplast compositions may be employed in the present invention. Thus there may be employed the triazineurea formaldehyde resins, alkyl-methylolhydroxethylene urea, dimethylolformamide, dimethylol methyl carbamate, dimethylol methoxyethylcarbamate, dimethylol ethylcarbamate, bis-methoxy methylethylene urea, dimethylol N-hydroxyalkyl triazone dimethoxymethyl uron and the like. Mixtures of aminoplasts may also be employed.

In general, it may be said that any aminoplast may be employed in the present composition so long as it is relatively stable and inert, is substantially water soluble so as to form a homogeneous aqueous solution and preferably, but not necessarily, should have a low freeformaldehyde content. As indicated above, the class of materials represented by the propylene ureas and the ethylene ureas well known in the art in the treatment of textiles are highly preferred for the present invention.

Generally, these aminoplasts are employed as water solutions in an amount of about 30% to 70% of aminoplast to 70% to 30% of water. A 50% aqueous solution of the aminoplast is highly preferred and generally is commercially available.

These aminoplast compositions are employed with a unique catalyst system especially developed for use in the durable-press spray compositions of this invention. This catalyst system appears to operate on the synergistic principle in combination with the aminoplast resin and therefore forms a particularly novel aspect of this invention.

To be suitable as a catalyst in a durable press spray composition of the kind disclosed herein, the catalyst must meet several criteria. First, it must not discolor any fabrics or the solution of any fabrics in which it is used and in addition must not effect the fabric strength to any substantial degree. Moreover, it must be relatively inert until subjected to the curing process and must be stable over long periods while in solution with the aminoplast to be cured. Thus the catalyst must have no effect on shade changes or light fastness, should be capable of dissolution in an aqueous system to provide a homogeneous composition which will remain inert over long periods of time until ready for use. The catalyst systems of this invention meet these criteria.

As indicated, the catalyst system of this invention is a synergistic catalyst system, that is, the combined effect of all the separate components, if used individually, would not provide the results of the combination of components. As will be apparent the particular components employed in the synergistic catalyst system of this invention have been employed separately to effect curing of aminoplast resins in the treatment of textiles in the prior art. However, to applicants knowledge, they have not been combined heretofore, or if combined, their advantages have not been recognized by those skilled in the art.

The catalyst system of this invention is a three component catalyst system utilizing clearly distinct materials. The first component or component l) of the system may be any of three members and is selected from the group consisting of magnesium fiuoborate [Mg(BF paratoluene sulfonic acid, sulfamic acid and mixtures thereof. These variables of component (1) are interchangeable with respect to the remainder of the system.

The second component or component (2) of the system is a metallic salt of a metal of Group II of the Periodic Table. Magnesium chloride, zinc chloride, calcium chloride or zinc nitrate, particularly the hexahydrates of these materials, are especially preferred as well as mixtures thereof. However, other salts of the metals of Group II can be employed as desired.

The third component or component (3) of the catalyst system is an organic hydroxyl carboxylic acid of the class well known in the art. Particularly preferred hydroxyl carboxylic acids which may be used are tartaric acid, citric acid, tartronic acid, maleic acid and the like. Mixtures of these hydroxy carboxylic acids may also be employed.

In analyzing the synergistic catalyst employed in this invention it appears that the critical component of the catalyst system is component (1) although the other components are necessary to achieve the effects of the inventron. It is not understood exactly how the catalyst system operates or why it is satisfactory in forming the homogeneous composition which remains inert over long periods of time and then is capable of flash curing, but this catalyst system does in fact provide these results.

The catalyst system is a strongly acid system, that is it maintains a pH clearly on the acid side e.g. below about 3.5. Thus, in the composition of the present invention it has been found that the composition containing the catalyst will maintain a pH in the range of about 2.0 to 3.0 over periods of up to one year and maintain good performance characteristics over these periods.

A general formulation for forming the compositions of this invention is as follows:

Percent Aminoplast 8 to 40 Catalyst system:

Component (1) 0.05 to 0.8

Component (2) 0.25 to 1.00 Component (3) 0.05 to 0.4

An especially preferred system is a formulation containing about 20 to 30% of the aminoplast, and of the catalyst, 0.3 to 0.6% of Component (1); 0.5 to 1.0% of Component (2); and 0.1 to 0.3% of Component (3).

The composition is formed by merely mixing the component materials at room temperature. The resulting composition is an aqueous homogeneous composition and all the materials are generally added as aqueous solutions. It is pointed out in this regard that all the essential components are water soluble and maintain their homogeneous state over long periods of time. In fact, the solution will remain homogeneous and does not need shaking to effect mixing even after a long shelf period.

The composition or solution may also contain additional additives which are of advantage in use as a durable press spray. Hence, it is often desirable to utilize fabric softeners, soil release agents and the like in such systems. Particularly preferred additives are fabric softeners and specifically about 0.2 to 6.0, preferably 0.5 to 4.5% of a polyethylene emulsion sold as Valsof RE. 5053 by the Valchem Division of United Merchants and Manufacturers, Inc.

As indicated, the compositions resulting from mixing of these components is homogeneous and maintains its homogeneous but inert nature over shelf periods of up to one year. Therefore, it is clearly storage stable and thus suitable for the use set forth herein. In addition the solution is capable of application merely by spraying such that the composition may be placed in a suitable container and when desired to use on a fabric or garment, may be merely sprayed thereon. A further important characteristic of the compositions is that after application to a fabric or garment they are susceptible to flash-curing or socalled quick-curing. This is made possible by the homogeneous ntaure of the system, its relative inactivity at normal temperatures, the low pH of the system and the unique catalyst system. It has been found that garments or fabrics treated with the composition of this invention may be cured merely by the use of a household iron, that is, by four or more passes over the fabric with the heated iron. This has an additional advantage in that any creases neces sary may be placed therein just prior to the curing step. As curing is effected by the use of a household iron, it is to be understood that the curing temperatures may range from 250 to 400 F with the especially preferred range being about 340 to 360 F., the latter temperatures being achieved with a household iron at the wool setting. As indicated, curing usually requires at least about four passes with the iron at the indicated temperatures, which time period for cure obviously being a very short period of time such as 30 seconds or less, depending on the ironer. This is of course much quicker than the normal curing times for durable press fabrics. Therefore, it may be accurately stated that the resin system may be cured at temperatures of about 250 to 400 F. in periods ranging from to about 60 seconds.

As indicated, the composition, being homogeneous and having a long shelf life, may be easily applied by spraying so as to obtain uniform impregnation of a fabric or garment. As a result the composition is imminently suitable for application by any of the well known methods of spraying materials to be used in the household. Hense, the composition may be placed in any of the various well known containers such as the piston spray commonly used to spray paint, the so-called aerosol bomb, use of an ordinary squeeze bottle, or any other suitable means.

Thus the composition may be sprayed in the form of a mist to efifect impregnation of the garment or fabric.

The piston spray type includes the use of compressed air as obtained from an air compresser or tank as is well known in the art. This method however, being rather un wieldly, is not a particularly desirable method for spraying the composition.

A more suitable System which may be employed is the so-called aerosol propellant type which comprises the use of the composition with a liquified compressed gas such as the Freons, manufactured by the Du Pont Co. or mixtures thereof, as well as various other gases, as exemplified in many US. patents relating tothe aerosol art. The use of the aerosol system is also inclusive of the newer dual action aerosol system under which the resin and catalyst are kept separate in a single container until sprayed. However, as such is not necessary in use of the compositions, this is a less desirable system. In such aerosol systems, the interior of any container should be acid resistant as the catalyst system is clearly on the acid side.

In a further method of application, the so-called squeeze bottle may be employed wherein the composition is merely placed within a flexible or plastic bottle and the composition applied by application of hand pressure to the flexible container.

While it is also possible to merely apply the composition in the simplest procedure merely by use of gravity, use of one of the spray techniques is highly preferred.

As is to be gathered from this discussion of the container by which the composition may be applied, it is obvious that the novelty does not reside in the particular container but resides in the fact that the composition is homogeneous and is capable of being applied in a fine mist or spray from any suitable container.

The composition may be applied to any cellulosic or cellulose-containing fabric, that is it may be used on 100% cellulosics, that is to say all cottons or all rayons, or on blends of cellulosics with synthetics including those containing about 10 to of cotton or rayon to 90 to 10% of a synthetic such as a polyamide, polyester or any combination thereof such as the popular 65/35 polyester/ cellulosics.

The composition may be employed to effect durable press properties to new fabrics which are to be made into garments; to garments which have been prepared from non-durable press materials; to effect rejuvenation of previously treated materials but which have lost their durable press properties through use or other means; as in the alteration of durable press items such as the adjusting of hems, trouser legs and the like. Accordingly, a wide range of beneficial uses is available for the use of the compositions of this invention.

In utilizing the compositions for their intended use, the fabric to be treated is initially sprayed with or impregnated with the composition until uniform impregnation is obtained. This should be sufiicient to substantially saturate the fabric or garment but should not completely soak the material. After the fabric is well saturated with the treat ing composition, it should then be allowed to air dry at normal or room temperatures which air drying normally will consume about one hour more or less, depending on the weight and size of the treated material. Drying may be effected merely by hanging the fabric in a suitable area and allowing to dry.

The air drying step is necessary in practicing the process of the invention as attempting to cure with a hot iron prior to drying would result in a sticky effect in that the iron would tend to stick to the impregnated garment or fabric.

After the air drying step is completed the treated gar ment is then hand ironed thoroughly with an electric iron, preferably using at least four passes each on the face and back of all the portions of the textile. In this ironing process, any creases deemed necessary should be formed and pressed first before the rest of the garment is ironed inasmuch as the first pass over the garment with the iron will result in initial curing of the resin treated fabric.

It has been found in the curing step that on an ordinary electric iron, the settings for cotton and most preferably the settings for W001, are satisfactory to effect curing of the treated garment. Generally, at the wool setting at least four passes over the garment will be necessary to completely cure the resin on the fabric. At lower temperatures more passes may be needed. These ironing or setting temperatures will generally range from around 270 to 425 F. However, quite clearly, it is a novel feature of the invention that curing can be effected merely by household ironing of the treated fabric.

As indicated above, if the fabric is cured prior to cutting and sewing into the garment or other finished prodnot, the procedure is the so-called pre-cure" technique. On the other hand if the dried fabric is made into the garment or other product by cutting and sewing, the post-cure technique is being employed to result in a permanent press product.

In certain instances, particularly when an aminoplast resin is employed which contains a high free-formaldehyde content, it is sometimes necessary and generally desirable to complete the curing step by tumble-drying the ironed and cured fabric in a heated home dryer to remove all indications of formaldehyde and insure that the curing is completely uniform. Temperatures generally for home dryers will range from about 135 to 140 F. and drying for a period of about 20 to 80 minutes is sufiicient.

The fabric or garment resulting from the operations of the process will be found to exhibit all the characteristics of a fabric or garment subjected to durable press treatment in a garment factory and as such provides a convenient and easily operable process for converting the durable press concept to home use.

As indicated above, a number of materials may be employed as additives in the composition of this invention including materials such as fabric softeners, hand modifiers, soil release agents, compressed gasses when an aerosol form of the composition is employed, and the like. However as such additives are well known to those skilled in the textile-treating art their presence or absence in the compositions are not considered to detract from the novelty thereof.

The following examples are presented to illustrate the compositions and process of the present invention, but are not to be considered as limitative thereon. Unless otherwise indicated, parts used in the illustrative examples are by weight.

EXAMPLE I The following composition was formulated by mixing the components at room temperature:

ing agent) 0.01 Mg (B l- (30% solution of magnesium fluoborate) 0.45 MgCl .6H O (crystals of magnesium chloride hexahydrate) 0.75 Tartaric acid 0.2

Valsof RE. 5053 (50% active polyethylene emulsion as fabric softener) 1.0 Water 72.59

The components of the above recipe were thoroughly mixed at room temperature at which time it was observed that a homogeneous solution was formed. The pH was 2.2. The solution Was then placed in a sealed container and allowed to stand for six months. At the end of this period, the solution was still a clear homogeneous solution and the pH was 2.5. After a further six months or one full year, the solution was still homogeneous and the pH was 2.7. Therefore this example illustrates the storage stable qualities of the compositions.

EXAMPLE H The recipe of Example I was prepared except that the 0.45% Mg(BF was replaced by 0.20% of para-toluenesulfonic acid and the MgCl .-6H O was replaced by an equal amount of ZnCl .6I-I O. The resulting homogeneous solution exhibited the same storable qualities as the composition of Example I.

EXAMPLE III The recipe of Example I was prepared except that the 0.45 Mg(BF was replaced by 0.25% of 100% sulfamic acid and the tartaric acid was replaced by an equal amount of citric acid. The resulting solution was homogeneous and exhibited the same storage qualities as that of Example I over an eight month period at which time the pH was 2.7.

EXAMPLE IV To compare the durable press qualities of the invention, the following comparative tests were carried out. Test fabrics or samples 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 were 48" 134 x 64, 2.61 yards/# 100% cotton broadcloth and fabric samples Nos. 6, 7 and 8 were 48" 78 x 56, 4.00 yards/# 50/50 polyester-cotton. Samples No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 of the fabrics were treated with the composition of Example I by spraying the fabrics uniformly and thoroughly with a hand operated spray gun sufficiently to provide damp and well saturated but not soaked fabrics. After the fabrics were wetted they Were then allowed to air dry completely at room temperature. Thereafter the dried fabrics were creased and ironed with an ordinary electric iron at the iron settings and passes set forth in the tables below. At least four passes were used on each fabrics and the one crease was ironed into each sample before the rest of the garment was ironed.

The following iron setting were used:

After ironing as indicated in the table, the test samples were washed once in an automatic washer, rated for durable press, then washed four more times and rated for durable press. Wash temperature was F.

The results of these tests on each of the test samples are set forth in the following table.

.As is clear from Table -I, the results of the test illustrate the fact that the invention provides durable press properties to test samples 1, 2, 3, and 4, even after 5 washes. While some loss of tensile strength was noted, this was no greater than is normally encountered in imparting durable press characteristics to fabrics.

The test method employed to test the fabrics for durable press characteristics is AATCC Test No. 124-1967 under which a level of 4.0 or higher is rated as durable press. In Table I it will be seen that sample Nos. 3, 4, 6 and 7 meet this test. In this test a value of 5.0 is perfect and a value of 4.0 is very good.

It is therefore to be seen that the compositions and processes of the instant invention are suitable to provide durable press characteristics to fabrics and garments by a truly portable procedure which enables their use by unskilled persons and particularly use by such persons in the home.

The invention has been described herein with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments. However, the invention is not to be considered as limited thereto as obvious variations will become apparent to those skilled in the art.

sisting of (1) about 0.05 to 0.8% of a member selected from the group consisting of (a) magnesium fluoborate, (b) para-toluene sulfonic acid, (c) sulfamic acid, and (d) mixtures thereof; (2) about 0.25 to 1% of a salt of a metal of Group II of the Periodic Table, and (3) about 0.05 to 0.4% of hydroxycarboxylic acid, allowing the fabric to dry and creasing and/or pressing the fabric at a temperature of about 250-400 F.

TABLE I Ironing aroeedgre Tensile strength Appearance rating Crease retention mm x. Sample No. IV) Warp Fill 1 Wash 5 washes 1 wash 5 washes 1 50 29 3. 5 3. 3.7 3. 2 50 26 3. 9 3. 7 4.0 3. 3 48 22 4. 0 4. 0 4. 0 4. 0 4 35 4. 2 4. 2 4. 5 4. 0 5 59 34 1. 0 1.0 1.0 1. 0 5 51 36 4. 2 4. 2 4. 5 4. 5 7 5 50 32 4. 5 4. 5 5. 0 4. 5 8 (Control) 5 68 44 3. 0 2. 8 3. 0 2. 5

What is claimed is:

1. An aqueous, homogeneous, storable, durable-press composition comprising; (A) an aminoplast, and (B) a catalyst system comprising 1) about 0.05 to 0.8% of a member selected from the group consisting of (a) magnesium fiuoborate, (b) paratoluene sulfonic acid, (c) sulfamic acid, and (d) mixtures thereof, (2) about 0.25 to 1% of a salt of a metal of Group III of the Periodic Table, and (3) about 0.05 to 0.4% of a hydroxycarboxylic acid.

2. A composition according to claim 1 which contains about 8 to 40% of an aminoplast which contains less than about 0.5% of free-formaldehyde.

3. A composition according to claim 2 wherein the aminoplast is dimethylol ethylene urea, dimethylol propylene urea or dimethylol dihydroxyethylene urea.

4. A composition according to claim 3 which has a pH ranging from about 2.2 to 2.7.

5. A composition according to claim 4 wherein catalyst component (2) is magnesium chloride hexahydrate or zinc chloride hexahydratc.

6. A composition according to claim 5 wherein catalyst component (3) is tartaric acid or citric acid.

7. A composition according to claim 6 wherein the composition contains about 20 to of an aminoplast having less than about 0.5% of free formaldehyde content, about 0.3 to 0.6% magnesium fluoborate, about 0.5 to 0.1% magnesium chloride hexahydrate and about 0.1 to 0.3% tartaric acid.

8. An aqueous homogeneous storable, durable-press composition having a pH of about 2.0 to 3.0 and comprising; (A) an aminoplast containing less than about 0.5% of free formaldehyde, and (B) a catalyst system comprising 1) sulfamic acid, (2) a salt of a metal of Group II of the Periodic Table and (3) a hydroxycarboxylic acid.

9. A process for the preparation of a durable-press fabric which comprises applying to a cellulose-containing fabric a composition comprising an aqueous solution of, (A) an aminoplast, and (B) a catalyst com-position con- 10. A process according to claim 9 wherein the creasing and/or pressing steps are conducted by ironing the treated fabric with a hot iron.

11. A process according to claim 10 wherein creases are placed in the fabric prior to ironing.

12. A process according to claim 11 wherein the aqueous solution contains about '8 to 40% of an aminoplast which contains less than about 0.5% of free formaldehyde.

13. A process according to claim 12 wherein the aminoplast is dimethylol ethylene urea, dimethylol propylene urea or dimethylol dihydroxyethylene urea, and the aqueous composition has a pH ranging from about 2.2 to 2.7.

14. A process according to claim 13 wherein catalyst component (2) is magnesium chloride hexahydrate or zinc chloride hexahydrate and catalyst component (3) is tartaric acid or citric acid.

15. A fabric prepared by the process of claim 9.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,183,054 5/1965 Fischer et al. 8-116.3 3,220,869 11/1965 Ruemens et al. 8-1163 3,243,252 3/ 1966 Hushebeck 8--116.3 3,369,858 2/1968 Lourigan 8-1163 3,441,367 4/ 1969 Pierce et a1. 8l16.3 3,512,285 5/ 1970 Pensa 8-1163 3,518,042 6/1970 Pensa 8116.3 3,165,374 6/ 1965 Hushebeck 8---116.3

GEORGE F. LESMES, Primary Examiner J. CANNON, Assistant Examiner UJS. O1. X.R.

8-1l5.6, 141.1, 115.7, DIG. 4, DIG. 21; 38-l44; 252 8.8; 260--29.4, DIG. 25; 117---104 UNITED STATES PATENT oTTTcE CERTIFICATE OF CGRRECTIQN Patent No. 3 674, 41.8 Dated July 4 1972 Inventor(s) Richard J. Lyons and Jan Dabrowski It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 1, line 1?, insert before "e.g.".

Column 2, line 50, delete "farbric" and insert -fabric.

Column 5, line 44, delete ntaure" and insert -nature--.

Column 5, line 71, delete "Hen se and insert -Hence--.

Column 6, line 50, insert well as after "as".

Column 8, line 43, delete "fabrics" and insert -fabric.

Column 8, line 44, delete "setting" and insert -settings-.

Column 9, Claim 1, delete "Group III" and insert Group II-.

Signed and sealed this 21st day of November 1972.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents ORM PO-1050 (10-69) USCOMM-DC GO376-P69 U.S, GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1959 0-366-334. 

